U.S Flag and the U.S. Anthem Lecture

The original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key

When: Thursday, March 3, 2011, 5:30 PM
Where: American Center, Tržiště 13, Prague 1 — Malá Strana

The American Center would like to invite you to a talk about the U.S. anthem and U.S. flag. Come and join us for the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the adoption of Star-Spangled Banner as the U.S. anthem.

Lecture by Jana Sehnalková, Americanist and American Center Deputy Director, will be held in Czech.

The poem by Francis Scott Key officially became the U.S. anthem in 1931. However, its history goes back to 1814 when smoke was rising above the battleground at Fort McHenry. Lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key was a witness to British shelling of American positions during the British-American War. When the sun started to rise, Key saw an American flag flying across the battlefield, as a symbol of American victory. Full of emotion, Key put his feelings into a poem which now bears the imprint of early American identity.